The present invention relates to signal processing technology, and, more particularly, to methods, electronic devices, and computer program products for detecting noise in a signal.
Wind noise may be picked up by microphones used in such devices as mobile terminals and hearing aids, for example, and may be a source of interference for a desired audio signal. Electronic devices may incorporate adaptively directional microphones to reduce the effect of wind noise. More specifically, an electronic device may adjust the directivity pattern created by its microphones based on whether the electronic device is operating in a wind mode or no-wind mode.
Conventionally, as described in U.S. Patent Application Publication U.S. 2002/0037088 by Dickel et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, a windy condition is detected by analyzing the output signals of at least two microphones. In more detail, one output signal is subtracted from the other to remove a common component of the two signals. The result of the subtraction is averaged and compared with a threshold value. If the threshold value is exceeded, then the device switches to a wind mode due to the wind being generally spatially uncorrelated. Unfortunately, the foregoing approach to detecting wind noise generally is more effective when turbulence near the microphones is large. For some wind angles, however, the turbulence may be relatively small. Other noise sources that are uncorrelated or inverse correlated to each other in space may generate a false windy condition.